Dartmouth Steam Railway Heritage Festival 8-9/06/12

You are here: Home > Latest ReportsPosted on: 15th June 2012Updated on: 17th June 2012 The Dartmouth Steam Railway, formerly known as the Paington and Dartmouth Steam Railway, held its annual 'heritage festival' on the last weekend of the Jubilee half term week. The event is something of a nod toward the existence of 'enthusiasts' by what is primarily a tourist, rather than preserved, railway. The event featured a number of special aspects including a more intensive than usual service, double headers, named trains, goods trains and the opening of the workshops to the public as well as some other 'heritage' attractions thrown as well.

Traditionally, the Paington and Dartmouth Steam Railway, as it was known, tended to be looked on with disdain by enthusiasts for shunning volunteers,indiscriminately painting engines and coaches in Great Western colours and giving them twee names. However, recently the Dartmouth Steam Railway appears to have had a change of heart - painting flagship No:7827 'Lydham Manor' into authentic BR black for the first time and introducing the Heritage Festival for the benefit of enthusiasts - even removing the locomotive's nameplates where they had been added by the company!(Left: Resplendent in immaculate BR lined mixed traffic black, BR built 'Manor class 4-6-0 No:7827 'Lydham Manor' runs around at Kingswear on 8th June 2012)

Main Attractions

For enthusiasts, the main attraction was the opportunity to see the Dartmouth Steam Railway running more of a gala, even bringing in an appropriate visitor for the event. The Heritage Festival follows a similar format to the steam galas of most other preserved lines, operating a more intensive schedule with some double headers and goods trains. The event was also an opportunity to see the railway doing more of a passable re-creation of itself during BR days, particularly as the authentic 'Torbay Express' headboard was brought out for visitor No:4936 'Kinlet Hall' to carry during the event.The railway had enlisted three or four traction engines and a couple of classic vehicles to make up the 'Heritage Festival' section at Churston station, although for most enthusiasts the highlight here was free access behind the scenes in the engine sheds; an area usually out of bounds on most railways, but especially until recently on this one. This afforded the opportunity to see some of the railway's out of ticket and under overhaul locomotives including 'small prairie' No:4555 and BR standard 4MT No:75014. A excellent aspect of this access all areas was the clear signage and information that the railway had provided to explain the roles of the different equipment - this is something other railways could actually learn from - all too often machinery or equipment is left unexplained when it would be interesting to know what it was. A ticket for the Heritage festival - strangely the railway also appeared to be selling normal tickets - also gave holders the opportunity to go on a cruise around Dartmouth on an ex-BR ferry.

Locomotives

The three locomotives operating at this event encapsulates how the DSR's fleet differs from other preserved lines - it has a small, but well looked after fleet of locos ideally suited to operating the line without being worked too hard. No:4936 'Kinlet Hall' is spending its summer holidays on the line, but made a very welcome guest on the line which, because of the nature of its fleet, does not often receive visitors which actually work its services although during the summer the line is traversed by mainline 'Pacifics' operating the Torbay express. (Right: No:4936 awaits departure time from Churston on 9th June 2012) No:4936 is an extremely appropriate visitor, being a representative of a class that would have worked over the line under British Railways, as well as being a local engine, spending part of her life based a Newton Abbot shed. Throughout the event, No:4936 was paired, appropriately, with the Torbay Express headboard and 136 reporting number - the Torbay Express was a service run from Paddington to Paington by the Great Western Railway. Being in BR

lined green livery the 1929 built machine looked splendid paired with the BR black No:7827, creating a very real time warp image.From the home fleet, No:7827 'Lydham Manor' was the star, putting in some spectacularly noisy performances whilst also looking resplendant in BR black with the red background nameplates setting the black paintwork off beautifully, but it is doubtful in BR service this colour scheme stayed as clean as it is now for long!There is still a certain novelty value to No:7827 for enthusiasts because since ts restoration in 1973 the 1950 built 'Manor' had only ever carried Great Western green - a livery it never carried during its working life, being built 2 years after nationalisation - up until 2011 when it was re-painted and masqueraded as No:7800 'Torquay Manor' for the 2011 Heritage Festival. The other operational member of the home fleet, GWR 2-8-0T No:4277 is well suited to the steeply graded line despite being designed for work hauling coal trains in the South Wales valleys, built at Swindon in 1920 No:4277

looked undeniably smart in its Great Western lined green livery, even if it was historically inaccurate. Specially for the event, the DSR removed the 'Hercules' name plates the 7F tank usually carries. The locomotive was only timetabled to run on Friday and Saturday with its diagram being taken by a class 25 diesel on Sunday.The opening of the sheds at Churston allowed the opportunity to see No:4277's presently out of traffic classmate No:5239 'Goliath' on display in the sheds.(Left: No:4277 awaits its next duty at Paington whilst attached to the 'goods' train on 9th June 2012)

Visitor Numbers

Trains were by no means full and the event never felt especially busy, although there seemed to be a good number of photographers out

and about on the lineside to photograph proceedings. Whilst that is all well and good, hopefully they contributed to the railway in some way, because if they event wasn't the success the owners - who run the line with the aim of making a profit - were hoping for, there is no guarantee the event will appear on the calendar next year.It is slightly problematic gauging visitor numbers because the railway did not appear to view the event as taking over the whole railway - in station announcements it was referred to as 'the heritage festival at Churston' as if it wasn't so much a railway event as a side show.(Right: No:7827 drifts downhill past Saltern curve with a service for Paington) Even so, visitor numbers do not appear to have been sky high and the majority of visitors appeared to be enthusiasts, which in a way is good and shows the event is hitting the 'target market' squarely. We can suppose that some of the visitors who might have

Timetabling

The timetable might be described as several things; peculiar, odd or not being as good as it could be. The timetable was peculiar and odd in the way that the 'goods' train was omitted from the public timetable, and consequently every time it appeared we were caught unawares! It would not have been difficult to include it with, for instance, a grey background to denote that passengers couldn't travel on the service, thereby being invaluable for photographers. (Left: No:4277 sneaks up on the photographer with the goods at Goodrington Sands on 9th June 2012) But, credit to the railway for making the effort to run something a bit different for a change - it would just have been nice to know when it was running! The
timetable was also strange in the fact that the railway evidently had

the capacity to operate a more intensive timetable, although admittedly that would have been difficult given the number of engines. Speaking to one of the staff revealed that the railway could have run a much more intensive service, but that the timetable was constrained by the railway operating using paid staff rather than volunteers.Also surprising was the fact that on one of the trains we travelled on, some of our fellow passengers appeared to be under the impression that the normal service timetable was in operation and were surprised when a station announcement at Paington informed them of the additional departures. This experience appeared to reflect a general lack of
However, what was on the timetable was good and reasonably well thoughout with trains running roughly to time all day. The undoubted highlight, though was the 1pm departure from Paington each day which saw the magnificent combination of No:7827 'Lydham Manor' piloting No:4936 'Kinlet Hall' - certainly the best part of the timetable!(Right: The highlight of the timetable - Nos:7827 and 4936 stride up Goodrington Bank with the 'Torbay Express' on 9th June 2012, but it could so easily be a summer Saturday in the 1960s....)

Value for money

The issue of value for money, like various other aspects of this event, is rather confusing

- the prices for a full line return appeared to be the same as normal, which would offer good value for money. However, this doesn't include the Heritage Festival at Churston and is only one round trip. The prices of day rovers appeared to be on a par with the prices for the 'average' gala at a good preserved railway - £17.00 for adults and this did include the heritage festival as well as a short cruise on the Dart, again offering quite good value, although the price for a whole family would work out at an expensive £50, not including, of course, other essentials for a day out like ice cream.

Conclusions

All in all a good event offering the chance to see something a little bit different as well as take a look behind the scene on the railway, something which is sometimes missing from other galas. Although there are opportunities for making an even better gala, the Dartmouth Steam Railway ought to be praised for pushing the boat out and doing something for enthusiasts; creating an event which offers something other railways can't - sun, sea and steam. Specifically glorious Great Western steam double headed up steep gradients - and that is what makes this event great!I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to all the volunteers and organisers who gave up their time to make the event happen. Without them there would be no gala.Thank you for taking the time to read this report, watch the video, and take a look at the photos, hope you enjoy them, and if you were able to go they will bring back happy memories and if you weren't able to go, well, you can see what you missed.